Forget B2B, let’s start talking P2P

Forget the business to business approach. What you’re really doing is talking to people, right? Below you’ll find 6 reasons why you should start thinking along the lines of P2P (person to person).

1. People Businesses are run by people, not robots (although that would be really cool). These people, they’re consumers. They use lots of different products, software and services, just like they’ll be using yours.

2. You You’re not a robot either and you probably prove this most days by filling out CAPTCHA forms. You’re a person, just like the people you’re selling to. You’re also a consumer and we reckon you have a pretty good idea about what you want, especially if you’re purchasing something relative to your market.

3. Budgets Businesses and consumers both have budgets. They also have to justify how they spend said budget (whether to their CFO, their partner or themselves). Just because the money they’re spending at work isn’t coming directly out of their own pocket, doesn’t mean they’re any more or less likely to flash the cash. It’s equally important that they make the right purchasing decisions at work and at home.

4. Users You need consumers to make sure whatever it is you’re selling is good, and if it’s not, they can help you make it better. Business requirements are all very well and good, but it’s the users that matter. You need to build relationships with the people you’re selling to and generate feedback to make user-led improvements.

5. Law There may be different laws in place to protect consumers and businesses in different ways, but that doesn’t change how people will react to being mistreated. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling to a person, a business or a dog; you need to be honest and upfront.

6. People (again) Actually, we may have used the word quite a lot in this post, but people don’t really like being called consumers (or robots). Moral of the story, no matter whom you’re selling to – treat them as the human being they are.